A conversation during residency:
Patient: "How long do you have left?"
Me: "About a year and a half."
Patient: "Well, that's good. You can see a lot of different things... and it'll give you time to find a husband."
(I was already married.)
lol what did they mean by "you can see a lot of things"? And I would hate it if patients tried to ask about my personal life or give suggestions :p
ReplyDeleteWhen I got accepted into medical school, one of my close friends said "Maybe while you're there you'll meet a doctor to marry so that you don't have to finish medical school." Riiiight...every girl's dream.
ReplyDeleteIn those situations I just smile and nod.
ReplyDelete@Solitary Diner: More than one woman in my entering med school class (at that year's 5th most expensive private school) took the M-R-S route out of med school after 2nd year and Step 1. At least one married a military scholarship recipient.
ReplyDeleteHaving grown up in a tiny, conservative, Midwestern town, I was just relieved when patients and their families stopped asking me if I was, or was training to be, a nurse.
It's not just tiny, Midwestern towns. I grew up in California in one of the top 50 largest cities in the US, and I got the same questions about nursing and such from many people. One guy at my undergrad overheard me discussing interviews with a professor and asked if I was going to be a teacher. When I told him I was interviewing for med school, he replied in the most patronizing voice "Aww...that's nice. Both my sister-in-laws are nurses!" (people FREQUENTLY assume I mean nursing school). And most of my female classmates were completely shocked when they realized I'm not going to quit my job when I get married or have kids (yes, I'm going to school for 8 years plus residency and acquiring $200,000+ in student loans to sit at home all day as soon as I'm done... not happening).
DeleteWhen people ask me what I'm studying at the hospital and I say, "Medicine," they usually follow up with, "Like nursing? That's great." "Err... like medicine. Like a doctor." I've gotten used to it.
DeleteAt my hospital, patients are always asking if I'm done with nursing school. It's annoying to always having to clarify that I am a doctor. Sheesh.
DeleteMany of the girls in my class have expressed annoyance that people think they mean that they are going to be technicians when they say they are in pharmacy school.
ReplyDeleteAh well, I was told today that I'd spent a year in school learning to "just driven an ambulance".
ReplyDeleteClassic line from MANY years ago:
ReplyDeletepatient: "Hello Sweetie! When do I get to see the doctor?"
doctor: "That's DR. Sweetie to you!"
Apologies on both sides were abject and the dr/pt relationship did become positive...
I work with a brilliant pulmonary doc. Very well respected, excellent bedside manner, absolutely brilliant woman. She spent about 30 minutes with a pt. and the pt's family discussing what options would keep her most comfortable now that her lung disease is in advanced stages and she didn't have much longer on this earth. Doc took three steps outside the room and the pt. turned to her family and said "wow, what a nice nurse!" She stopped in her tracks and it looked like someone dumped a bunch of ice cubes down the back of her shirt. lol I always verbally refer to her as "Dr. XYZ" at least a dozen times every time I'm in an elderly pt. room with her, just to reinforce it with the pts. I don't know if she ever really noticed I do that, though. haha
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